Sumitro Djojohadikusumo

Raden Mas Sumitro Djojohadikusumo (sometimes spelt Soemitro Djojohadikoesoemo)[1] (29 May 1917 – 9 March 2001) was one of Indonesia's most prominent economists. During his lifetime Sumitro held several prominent roles including the Dean of the Faculty of Economics at the University of Indonesia.

Sumitro Djojohadikoesoemo
3rd Minister of Research of Indonesia
In office
28 March 1973 – 28 March 1978
PresidentSuharto
Preceded bySuhadi Reksowardojo
Succeeded byB. J. Habibie
8th Minister of Finance
In office
3 April 1952 – 30 July 1953
PresidentSukarno
Preceded byJusuf Wibisono
Succeeded byOng Eng Die
In office
12 August 1955 – 24 March 1956
PresidentSukarno
Preceded byOng Eng Die
Succeeded byJusuf Wibisono
7th Minister of Industry and Trade
In office
6 September 1950 – 27 April 1951
PresidentSukarno
Preceded byTandiono Manu
Succeeded bySujono Hadinoto
In office
6 June 1968 – 28 March 1973
PresidentSuharto
Preceded byMohammad Jusuf
Succeeded byRadius Prawiro
Personal details
Born(1917-05-29)29 May 1917
Karanganyar, Kebumen, Central Java, Dutch East Indies
Died9 March 2001(2001-03-09) (aged 83)
Jakarta, Indonesia
Political partySocialist Party of Indonesia
Spouse(s)
Dora Marie Sigar
(
m. 1946)
Children4
Alma materSorbonne University

Early life

Sumitro was born in Kebumen, Central Java, on May 29, 1917, the eldest son in an aristocratic Javanese family. Sumitro was the son of Margono Djojohadikusumo, the founder of Bank Negara Indonesia and the first head of the Temporary Grand Advisory Council (Dewan Pertimbangan Agung Sementara, DPAS) and member of the Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence (Badan Penyelidik Usaha Persiapan Kemerdekaan, or BPUPK). He spent his childhood in Java before moving to Europe, where he received his academic training, first at the prestigious Sorbonne University in Paris and later at Economische Hogeschool (the College of Economics) in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

He first won recognition as an economist at the age of 29, serving as an adviser to the Dutch delegation attending the United Nations Security Council meeting in London in 1946.

Personal life

Sumitro married Dora Marie Sigar, born in Manado in North Sulawesi 1921, on 7 January 1946 in Jakarta.[2] They had 4 children:

Their first daughter, Bianti, is married to J. Soedradjad Djiwandono, another Indonesian economist and former Governor of Bank Indonesia, while Prabowo was married to Siti Hediati Hariyadi, the fourth child of then-President of Indonesia Suharto from 1983 to 1998.

His wife, Dora, outlived him, dying in Singapore on 23 December 2008.

Government and political career

In March 1946 Sumitro returned to the newly independent Indonesia. He served in a series of successive governments, starting as an assistant to prime minister Sutan Sjahrir. In 1948 he was the deputy chief delegate representing Indonesia at the UN Security Council meeting at Lake Success, New York.

Following Indonesia's international recognition in December 1949, Sumitro became chargé d'affaires at the Indonesian Embassy in Washington D.C., before becoming one of five experts assisting the UN secretary-general.[3]

Sumitro went on to serve as the a Cabinet Minister for both Sukarno and Suharto.

During the late 1950s Sumitro involved in the PRRI/Permesta rebellion during which disgruntled leaders in several provinces in Sumatra and Sulawesi declared secession from the central government in Jakarta. The movement was quickly crushed and Sumitro fled abroad.

A brief summary of Sumitro's career is as follows:[4]

  • 1946: Staff assistant to Prime Minister Sutan Sjahrir.
  • 1947: President Director, Indonesian Banking Corporation.
  • 1948-1949: Deputy head, Indonesian delegation to the UN Security Council (deputy to L.N. Palar)
  • 1949: Member, Indonesian delegation to the Round Table Conference in The Hague, Netherlands.
  • 1950: Charge, Indonesian Embassy in Washington, DC.
  • 1950-1951: Minister of Trade and Industry, Natsir Cabinet.
  • 1952-2000: Professor, Faculty of Economics, University of Indonesia.
  • 1952-1953: Minister of Finance, Wilopo Cabinet.
  • 1955-1956: Minister of Finance, Burhanuddin Harahap Cabinet.
  • 1958-1961: Joined the PRRI/Permesta movement in opposition to the Jakarta central government.
  • 1958-1967: Lived outside Indonesia, working as an economic consultant in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, France and Switzerland.
  • 1968-1973: Minister of Trade in the First Development Cabinet appointed by president Suharto.
  • 1973-1978: Minister for Research in the Second Development Cabinet.
  • 1986: Chief Commissioner, PT Bank Pembangunan Asia; also active in the LP3ES NGO think tank in Jakarta.
  • 1985-1990: Chair, Board of Supporters, Mercu Buana University, Jakarta.

Contributions to Indonesian higher education

Sumitro played a prominent role in the Faculty of Economics at the University of Indonesia (FEUI). Following Independence, Sumitro was the only Indonesian with a doctorate in economics. He invited foreign lecturers from the Netherlands and lecturers from other faculties to assist in educating the students in the FEUI. As tensions grew and Dutch professors were pushed out of their roles in the university, Sumitro recognized the need for more Indonesian economists. He asked the Ford Foundation to help support teaching in the Economics Faculty by sending a group of promising Indonesian students to the University of California, Berkeley to study economics. This group of students, who later became known as the Berkeley Mafia, returned to Indonesia to serve in several high profile government positions and are credited as the architects of the modern Indonesian economy. The group included Widjojo Nitisastro, Mohammad Sadli, Emil Salim, Subroto, and Ali Wardhana.

Despite his socialist views, Sumitro was asked to be one of the founders of the University of Indonesia (Universitas Indonesia, UI).

Death

Sumitro died on March 9, 2001, of heart failure.[3]

Honour

Foreign honour

Bibliographies
  • (in Dutch) Raden Mas Soemitro Djojohadikoesoemo (1943) Het volkscredietwezen in de depressie, Harlem : Bohn
  • (in Indonesian) Sumitro Joyohadikusumo (1947) Beberapa soal keuangan, Djakarta : Poestaka Rakjat
  • (in Indonesian) Soemitro Djojohadikoesoemo (1946) Soal bank di Indonesia, Djakarta : Poestaka Rakjat
  • (in Indonesian) Soemitro Djojohadikoesoemo (1952) Laporan devisen tahun 1950 dan 1951, Djakarta : Kementerian Keuangan
  • (in Indonesian) Soemitro Djojohadikoesoemo (1954) Pandangan tjara2 menghadapi kesukaran2 ekonomi di Indonesia, Kementerian penerangan Republik Indonesia
  • (in Indonesian) Soemitro Djojohadikoesoemo (1954) Koperasi-koperasi diluar Indonesia, Djakarta : Kementerian PP dan K
  • (in Indonesian) Soemitro Djojohadikoesoemo (1977) Pemanfaatan sumber daya alam dan sumber daya manusia untuk mendukung pembangunan hankanmas
  • Thee Kian Wie (2001) "In Memoriam: Professor Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, 1917-2001", Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, 37 (2), pp. 171–181.
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gollark: NOT QUONAUTS
gollark: OH POTATOS NO
gollark: But apioid you, you bee.
gollark: I know you're just unhappy about COMPARTMENTAL SLATS.

References
  1. The preferred spelling, both of his family and of Sumitro himself, was the modern form of Sumitro Djojohadikusumo. His father, Margono Djojohadikusumo, uses the modern form of spelling in his book, Margono Djojohadikusumo, 1969, Reminiscences from 3 Historical Periods: A Family Tradition put in Writing, Jakarta: P.T. Indira. Sumitro himself wrote various books under the name of Sumitro Djojohadikusumo.
  2. Family details are from Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, Jejak Perlawanan Begawan Pejuang [Footsteps in the Resistance of a Freedom Fighter], Jakarta: Sinar Harapan, 2000, pp. 439 and 440.
  3. "Sumitro dies at 84 of heart failure", The Jakarta Post, March 10, 2001, archived on May 20, 2014.
  4. See Ready Susanto, Mari mengenal kabinet Indonesia [Let's know the cabinet of Indonesia], Lazuardi Buku Utama, Jakarta, 2011. See also, Sumitro Djojohadikusumo in Thee Kian Wie (ed), Recollections: The Indonesian economy, 1950s - 1990s, ISEAS, Singapore, ISBN 981-230-174-7.
  5. "Semakan Penerima Darjah Kebesaran, Bintang dan Pingat".

Further reading

Thee Kian Wie. 2001. 'In Memoriam: Professor Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, 1917-2001.' Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, 37(2), August, pp. 173-181.

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